Discover how celebrities from Snoop Dogg to Paris Hilton are embracing the NFT marketplace.&nbsp;

A couple of months ago, the concept of buying and selling crypto art via <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/emily-ratajkowski-nft-richard-prince-instagram-painting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">non-fungible tokens</a> (NFTs) would seem ludicrous, but <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/tiktok-creators-viral-dances-charli-damelio-addison-rae" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Internet trends</a> seem to move faster than the speed of light.&nbsp; Following March 11&mdash;when Christie&rsquo;s auctioned off a digital collage of images, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/11/22325054/beeple-christies-nft-sale-cost-everydays-69-million" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&ldquo;Everyday's&mdash;The First 5,000 Days,&rdquo; for $69.3 million</a>, elevating creator Mike Winklemann (who goes by the artist name Beeple) to the level of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/history-of-artist-residencies-contemporary-art" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Hockney</a>&mdash;a new market in the digital sphere has become the hottest topic of conversation.
NFTs are secured blockchain-based records that represent pieces of digital media and are bought with cryptocurrency. Much like the priceless nature of a Matisse or a Van Gogh, the original creation is worth more than the postcard you bought from the museum, and the same follows for NFTs and their copyrights.&nbsp;
From Silicon Valley&rsquo;s elite to the mass of the Internet, the possibilities of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/escapism-milan-fashion-week-fall-winter-2021-highlights-valentino-prada-moschino" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digital art,</a> authenticity, and ownership (AKA bragging rights) have gripped onlookers, so it comes as no surprise that celebrities have hopped on the virtual train, adding their own contributions to be auctioned off. Whether for the sake of capitalizing on the lucrative NFT market or making a statement on ownership and agency, discover how celebrities from <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/celebrities-you-didnt-know-were-related-siblings-cousins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Snoop Dogg</a> to <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/emily-ratajkowski-nft-richard-prince-instagram-painting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Emily Ratajkowski</a>&nbsp;are embracing crypto art.

In the early 2000s, the original influencer <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/paris-hilton-nicky-hilton-interview-sisters-for-life-family-childhood-careers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paris Hilton</a> embodied all the upcoming trends. From her dedication to Y2K style to stating that the selfie will become the new autograph, the heiress always seemed to be one step ahead, and this has extended in the crypto art sphere. In collaboration with designer Blake Kathryn, Hilton created a series that featured three unique pieces, titled &ldquo;Hummingbird in My Metaverse,&rdquo; &ldquo;Legend of Love,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Iconic Crypto Queen.&rdquo; As of April 2021, Hilton sold the entire collection for just over a million dollars and she has introduced <a href="https://twitter.com/ParisHilton/status/1381356903784087554" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two new real-life pets</a>, &ldquo;Crypto Hilton&rdquo; and &ldquo;Ether Reum,&rdquo; which are an ode to Hilton&rsquo;s NFTs obsession. When asked about why Hilton is embracing the craze, Hilton stated that she is so invested in the new media as a space for new creations that she dreams at night of future projects, artists, and even metaverses, praising its democratization of art.&nbsp;

Lindsay Lohan&nbsp;&nbsp;

Yet another 2000s pop icon, Lindsay Lohan has similarly praised NFTs for their ability to enable better copyright claims for creators on their own works and has released her first single in a year titled &ldquo;Lullaby.&rdquo; An exclusive collaboration with Lohan and DJ Manual Riva, the electronic song, and its accompanying visuals of an animated Lohan and butterflies, was auctioned off for upwards of $85,000 on FansForver. Lohan has also sold an NFT of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/music/daft-punk-french-music-duo-split" target="_blank" rel="noopener">now broken up EDM duo Daft Punk</a>for $15,000. Lohan stated that the sale is &ldquo;history in the making&rdquo; and that she predicts that the future of entertainment will be rooted in crypto, NFTs and blockchain becoming the norm.&nbsp;

Musician <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/13-interesting-facts-grimes-elon-musk-baby" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grimes</a>, is often regarded for her exploration of synth-pop and experimental pop, art, and alien-like cosmetics. The singer, who is in a relationship with technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, embraced the futurist nature of NFTs and sold 10 pieces of digital art, with some having thousands of copies and some being one-of-a-kind, on Nifty Gateway. Her art exploring imagery of other planets, futurist technology, ruin, and winged-cherubs, earned Grimes around $6 million in less than 20 minutes, with her highest-selling piece, &ldquo;Death of the Old,&rdquo; selling for enarily $389,000.&nbsp;

Snoop Dogg announced in late March 2021 his first NFT collection titled &ldquo;A Journey with the Dogg,&rdquo; which is the culmination of the rapper&rsquo;s early memories combined with the medium of NFTs. With eight pieces available in limited quantities, including original track &ldquo;NFT,&rdquo; &ldquo;Snoop Doge Coins,&rdquo; &ldquo;Diamond Joint,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Deez Nuts,&rdquo; the enduringly popular rapper stated that his art is a look into the life of a &ldquo;young Snoop.&rdquo; Commenting on the rise of crypto art, Snoop Dogg has stated that throughout his decade-spanning career, he has seen modern technology progress from analog to digital and that he is eager to explore the new digital sphere and connect with his fans. The globally recognized innovator and entrepreneur additionally stated that he was excited about the concept and that he believes that the technology will change the way artists do business. The drop lasted a limited 48 hours, with Snoop Dogg earning over $100,000 for just one of the pieces sold.&nbsp;

Another newcomer to the digital sphere, Ellen DeGeneres joined the NFT gold rush with her first sale in late April. DeGeneres, in being very meta, decided to auction her explanation of NFTs on the Ellen Show, as well as a physically drawn picture of a cat that was featured in the clip, as her first NFT.&nbsp; Open for 24 hours, the talk show host earned $33,495 that she donated to the World Central Kitchen, the food-relief organization founded by Chef Jos&eacute; Andr&eacute;s.&nbsp;

Legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk decided to add his own twist to NFTs by auctioning off a video of himself performing a trick on the Ethernity Chain. His performance of the 540-degree Ollie, a trick he first landed in 1989, was sold as the &ldquo;last ollie'' the skateboarder will ever do. The clip is supposed to be compared with his first Ollie 540 from 32 years ago, and while we do not know how expensive it will be or how many editions will be available, being so intimately close to Hawk, we can assume it will fetch a high price.&nbsp;

DJ Steve Aoki is a true genre-bender, embracing the electronic collectible craze as he doubled down on an NFT drop in March. Strongly believing that NFTs are here to stay, Aoki has partnered with creative director and 3D visual artist Antonio Tudisco to create the &ldquo;Dream Catcher,&rdquo; a piece that also came with physical copies, which earned more than $4.29 million. More recently Aoki partnered again with motivational speaker Tom Bileus to launch the &ldquo;Neon Future&rdquo; NFT set. The sci-fi comic was created by digital artist Maciej Kyciara and went live on Nifty Gateway on April 27. Reflecting on these experiences, Aoki stated that he has always been a passionate collector, and the overlap between music and new ways of collecting art has given him &ldquo;an opportunity to finally merge art, collectible culture, and music in a way I&rsquo;ve never been able to realize before.&rdquo;

Musician Shawn Mendes joined the marketplace OpenSea with a collaboration with Genies to sell unique wearables after the success of its Mesut &Ouml;zil line, which made over $500,000. From a virtual guitar to necklaces, vest, and earrings, were available to purchase on OpenSea and made Mendes more than $600,000. Following the sale, Mendes donated his proceeds to the Shawn Mendes Foundation Wonder Grants, designed to help young activists with big ideas.

In late April, Eminem shared his first NFT collection titled &ldquo;Shady Con&rdquo; which took the form of a digital festival that gave fans the chance to own an NFT collectible on Nifty Gateway. The one-of-a-kind tracks, including original instrumental beats created by the rapper, were released prior to the limited edition festival. In speaking about why the rapper was intrigued by NFTs, Eminem said that his love for collectibles when he was young didn't have a market and he is happy to recreate some of those collections.&nbsp;

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, proved that social media can also be sold as an NFT when he auctioned his first tweet as an NFT in March. His 15-year-old tweet, posted in March 2006, that simply said &ldquo;just setting up my twttr&rdquo; ended up making him a whopping $2.9 million when the bidding ended on the Valuables platform. Dorsey stated that all proceeds would be converted to bitcoin and donated to GiveDirectly, a charity helping those in poverty, benefitting its COVID-19 response in Africa.

Supermodel <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/kate-moss-nft-videos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kate Moss</a> joined the craze, delivering something completely new: a video of herself sleeping. &ldquo;Sleep with Kate,&rdquo; which gives an intimate look at the model, illustrates how crypto art and digital ownership can, much like Paris Hilton stated, empower women. After, Moss made $17,000 from the NFT and donated the proceeds to nonprofit organization Gurls Talk.

<a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/cara-delevingne-intimate-nft-charity-video" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cara Delevingne</a>, like her fellow Brit supermodel Moss, used NFTs to focus on female empowerment through the burgeoning crypto marketspace. In collaboration with artist Chemical X, Delevingne released a clip of herself, apparently nude, reading a poem about her vagina and notions of ownership. The one-of-a-kind NFT jumped on the same train of celebrities using their platforms and their voices to raise revenue for charity by donating the money made to her foundation that supports women&rsquo;s empowerment, COVID relief, LGBTQIA+, environmental causes and fighting institutional racism.

Emily Ratajkowski&nbsp;

One of the most prominent stories of celebrities using the power of NFTs, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/emily-ratajkowski-nft-richard-prince-instagram-painting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Emily Ratajkowski</a> auctioned off an NFT titled &ldquo;Buying Myself Back&rdquo; to reclaim the Instagram photo of herself artist Richard Prince appropriated for his &ldquo;New Portraits&rdquo; series in 2014. At the time, the model and her boyfriend paid $81,000 for Prince&rsquo;s copy of her own image. On May 14, Ratajkowski auctioned off her NFT, a composite image of the model standing in front of the blown-up Richard Prince Instagram post in her living room, reclaiming Ratajkowski&rsquo;s power to own her own image, and profit from it. As she explained to the Times, &ldquo;to me, this digital marketplace is a way to communicate this specific idea that couldn't exist in a different way.&rdquo;

13 Celebrities Who Have Joined the NFT Crypto Art Craze

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